Vibratory parts feeders are commonly known systems for providing properly oriented parts from a volume of disoriented parts, for transporting parts along a processing path, and/or for feeding to and maintaining a predetermined quantity of parts in a downstream parts orienting feeder. One common requirement of any of the foregoing parts feeders in certain applications, such as the pharmaceutical industry and assembly industries involving sensitive electrical components, is that they be maintained within a sterile environment. Typically, in pharmaceutical processing, the parts feeder component which comes into contact with the parts is changed or removed several times daily for sanitary purposes and/or product changeover. This feeder component, such as a feeder bowl, inline track or hopper bin, is typically secured to its vibratory base drive by bolts or similar removable attachment means. In this arrangement, tools such as wrenches must be used both to remove the feeder component from the base drive unit and to re-install a replacement component. Since the feeder component is almost always removed during normal operation of a feeding system, the removal and subsequent re-attachment of a feeder component must be done as quickly as possible as even minor downtime of the associated production line is particularly costly.
On the average, the amount of time required to perform such a changeover of the feeder bowl in a sterile environment is on the order of twenty minutes. Further, the tools that are used to attach and re-attach the feeder bowl to the base drive require sterilization before each use. In effect, the current system for product changeovers and sterilization of part contacting surfaces is time-consuming and inefficient as it can require that a manufacturing line be shut-down for longer than desired.
Previous attempts to solve this change-over problem have used a vacuum to secure the bowl to the drive unit, however, these systems suffer from the inherent problem that they require fragile seals and the maintenance of smooth engagement surfaces between the bowl and the drive unit. Thus, there remains a need for a new and improved vibratory parts feeding system which does not require a long changeover time or tools for performing the changeover while, at the same time, provides reliable securement without the need for fragile and easily damaged seals.